These are a few of my favorite things...

Lately my heart has just been overwhelmed with joy from all of the blessings the Lord has so graciously given me. So this morning I was thinking about all the things that make me smile! So just because I don't want to forget them I am going to list them. It won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to read on.

• First of all knowing that I am saved by grace makes me smile!
• Knowing that the Lord is directing my life and is in control
• The way Jess loves me
• My most precious beautiful son
• Canon's laugh
• Jess's songs he makes up
• When Jess kisses me
• Flowers
• Throw pillows
• Scarves
• Chocolate
• Skype
• Baby Gap Jeans
• When Canon raises his eye brows up and down
• My family
• Tasty salads
• Sweet tea
• Picking up Canon from the nursery at church
• Baby clothes
• Baby boy shoes!
• Getting Canon in the morning from his crib and seeing his big grin
• Pedicures
• Getting cards in the mail
• Memories from my child hood
• When Canon falls asleep on me
• Watching Jess interact with Canon
• Fresh clean sheets on the bed
• Watching snow fall
• My friends
• Being productive
• Lambs
• Listening to Jess speak about his passions, his ideas for raising our children, and what he is learning in class
• Giving Canon a bath
• Coupons
• Thinking about how Jess proposed and our wedding day, they were both just so special and sweet!
• When Jess reaches for my hand

I could go on for days.... I am going to be thinking all day long, so I might write more later! I need to get a few things done around the house while Canon is napping. It makes me smile that Canon is napping right now! ;)

Love,

Rachel

Recipe

Tasty Recipe

So lately I have been thinking about ways (in the future) I could get Canon to eat his vegetables. See his daddy (Jess) does not like vegetables so I try to find recipes to kind of hide the taste of them. So I am going to share a recipe with you. When I do make this and I am getting all the ingredients at the grocery I feel so healthy. ha! I also like making this because I always have left over raw veggies I can eat for lunch with a little ranch dressing! yum!!

So here it is...

Rachel's stir fry

chicken breasts (cut up in to strips)

green and red peppers (cut into thin strips)

pineapple slices (cut them into bite size pieces) save the juice

yellow onion

yellow squash (cut into chunks)

fresh mushrooms (cut into thin slices)

asparagus

olive oil

italian dressing

rice (brown or white)

1. Cook the chicken strips with olive oil, once browned on each side add a little italian salad dressing

2. Start cooking the rice

3. Once chicken is fully cooked add all vegetables and pineapple juice to the skillet and add more italian dressing. You can add water if you want it to be really soupy. Cook on high for about 5 minutes and then simmer for about 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender

4. Add the chicken and vegetables to the rice and enjoy!

So easy and it is a way to get lots of vegetables and also hide the flavor of a few veggies your kids or husband doesn't particularly care for!

Love,

Rachel

4 Months

Our joyful son is 4 months old. Time is flying by way too quickly. It seems like just a few weeks ago we were bringing him home not knowing what in the world we were doing (I am not sure we know now what we are doing).

Today was Canon's 4 month appointment and here are his stats:

16 lbs 10 oz. - 80th percentile

25 inches long - 75th percentile

The Dr. said he was healthy growing boy!

Because Canon is such a big boy and doesn't always seemed satisfied we are going to start rice cereal soon!

These are a few things Canon has been doing the past 3 months:

Rolling over from back to stomach

Prefers to sleep on stomach

Sitting up well in bumbo or when assisted

Really interactive with toys

Touching our faces daily

Laughing daily

Loves bath time

Loves to pull mommy's hair and pull her glasses off

Is talking more and more and is getting louder

Loves to be read to and really pays attention

Loves to suck on his pointer finger or his pointer and middle finger together

Able to jump in his jumperoo

Continues to be very content and happy

Wearing size 2 diapers

Wearing mostly 3 to 6 month clothes

Very observant and alert

Loves to look at patterns on clothes, walls, blankets, ect.

Loves to be sung to (particularly loves wheels on the bus and deep and wide)

We love you Canon!

Love,

Rachel

Valentine's Day

This was a special Valentine's Day because it was our first with our little boy! Canon got me a rose, the sweetest card, and a little green frog. Canon is very attracted to green frogs, it seems he has lots of them so he wanted his momma to have one too. Jess got me some tasty treats and beautiful flowers. I love flowers! They just brighten up the house!

Jess and I were able to go out to dinner. One of our sweet friends, Sara came to babysit Canon. He of course was great for her (at least that is what she says every time she watches him) even though he pooped through his clothes up to his neck and she had to give him a bath, ha!

Jess and I went out to the mall and walked around and then went to eat Mexican! I LOVE Mexican food! I could eat it everyday!!! And boy did I eat a lot! It was so nice to eat without entertaining a baby (even though we love having him with us). We had a great time talking and having some good laughs while we were out! I love Jess very much! He is very thoughtful and such a sweet husband and father!

Love,

Rachel

Debbie Downer

Debbie Downer

This past week or two has been challenging for me to say the least. This post is just me being honest and open about my emotions about some challenges I am finding in motherhood. I know that I am blessed beyond comprehension with a sweet beautiful baby boy and I am thankful the Lord blessed me with Canon and the responsibility of motherhood.

My entire life (well the years I can remember) I have had tendencies to be negative. I tend to harp on the "bad" or "inconveniences" of life at times. I know this is sinful and is a struggle for me. Being a mommy (and being married) was all I ever wanted when growing up and is all I ever wanted as an adult as well. So what is there to be negative about?

I am a type of person that is organized and very scheduled. I like to know what my day is going to consist of and what time everything is going to happen. I am a very punctual person and like everything to run very smoothly. (This can be a very positive thing, but it also can be a very selfish quality as well.) So, all of you that have children know that it is impossible (especially with a baby) to have an organized/I know what my day is going to look like type of life. Motherhood in this aspect is a struggle for me. The Lord is stretching me and teaching me the hard lesson of "selflessness". Before Canon came into this world I really wouldn't have considered myself selfish, but now that he is here and I he totally relies on me for all of his needs I have been rethinking this. Canon is such a sweet easy going baby, so what do I have to complain about? The answer is nothing if I really think about it. Instead lately I have been choosing to be negative about Canon not sleeping through the night, or how he won't take a nap in his crib, or not getting household things done. I have been stuck on it and it is starting to effect my attitude and my mood. Stupid, I know! I have really been convicted lately (and my sweet honest husband has called me out on my negative attitude as well) about my attitude. So what if he isn't sleeping through the night yet. So what if I'm not getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. So what he won't take a nap in his crib, at least he naps. So what if he needs rocked to sleep at 4 a.m. So what if the house is a mess. How selfish can I be? He is a baby, I like that he needs his momma. The Lord has blessed me with a perfect creation and there is nothing negative about that. I pray that I choose to see the positive and joys out of every aspect of motherhood even if it is hard and challenging. I am thankful the Lord is stretching me so I may become a better follower of Him and for "teaching" me to seek after Him in all things (even my child's sleep habits) instead of complaining. I pray that I put others first rather than what I want or how I like things to run.

Thanks for letting me be honest, hope it all made sense!

Love,

Rachel

Mom, Look what I did!!

We were at the Waggoners for lunch when all the snow was outside and we put Canon down for a nap on the landing of the stairs. Being the great napper that he is (sense my sarcasm) he started squirming. He was laying on his side and then started working hard to turn over from back to stomach (he had done this once before, but no one saw him do it cause he was in his crib). He was one determined little boy to get to his stomach (anything to get away from not taking a nap)! He grunted and grunted and started hitting his head on the wall (I of course moved him so he wouldn't hurt him self). And then with all of us looking, except for Jess because he had gone to go get batteries at our house, he ROLLED over from back to stomach!! He looked up as to say, "Mom, Look What I Did"!!! He was so proud!

He is very frequent at it now and yes Jess has seen him do it, probably more than I have!

Love,

Rachel

Snow Days

Snow Days

In Wake Forest, NC we had around 4 to 5 inches of snow last week (some people say 6, but I don't think it was that much). If anyone knows Jess and I, you know that we LOVE snow! We woke up to a blanket of snow on Saturday and you would have thought we were two 5 year olds waking up on Christmas morning. It started snowing the night before, so when we woke up to feed Canon we looked out the windows to see how much more it had snowed.

We pretty much spent Friday night and all day Saturday with the Waggoners (Brandt and Jill). Friday night they came over and we played games. On Saturday Jess went sledding with Brandt and a few more of his closest friends. After his first sledding adventure Jill had us over for lunch. We bundled Canon up and trekked over to their house (just a few doors down) and had a good time of fellowship. The boys went back out to sled, so Jill came over to our house (so Canon could take a nap) while we waited on the boys to get back from sledding. Once the boys were done sledding Brandt and Jill stayed for pizza and a movie! I think we all ate a little too many cookies over the weekend, but what fun we had! I wish it would snow more often!

Love,

Rachel